8             THEOSOPHY EXPLAINED
Ans. If the second object be understood and followed,
Universal Brotherhood is not impossible, and that second
object is (t to encourage the study of comparative religion,
philosophy and science ".
Q. Wherein lies the advantage then ?
Ans. A study of comparative religion proves that the
origin and essence of all religions are the same, and that
fundamentally all religions are one, teaching the same
truths and inculcating the same ideals of conduct and life.
(). How is that possible when the different world-
religions apparently differ so widely ?
Ans. The Immanence of God is the basis of Religion,
and the various religions are methods by which man
carries on his search after God—and here lies the justifica-
tion for variety. There are many types of mind, and
different religions were planned to appeal to different races
and temperaments.
Again, people are in different stages of evolution,
and what suits one stage may not suit another. For
example, a young or savage nation—that is, a nation
whose people have not had much experience and
training in a series of human incarnations, and whose
chief pleasures are eating and drinking and hunting for
food—would require a very simple kind of religion which
would teach that there is a God who is good, that they
should do right to please Him and gain happiness after
death, but that if they did wrong, He would punish them
and make them suffer after death.
But when the same men have passed through many
more earth-lives, and have been born into more civilised
nations, they would require a higher and more spiritual
form of religion as they would have greatly developed
their intellectual and moral faculties. By the evolution of